


Cats Might Dance

by bookmarkedpage



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Fluff, I can't write action scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 13:12:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7685872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookmarkedpage/pseuds/bookmarkedpage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette keeps trying and failing to ask Adrien to dance at a school dance.</p>
<p>Submission for the Miraculous Network's Prom event.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cats Might Dance

“Marinette, I swear, if you don’t ask that boy, I’m going to pick you up and throw you at him.”  
  
“No! Alya, please, I’m working on it. I’m… waiting for the right song!”  
  
Marinette leaps behind her best friend as Adrien walks by, and she sighs as he waves at the two girls on his way to the punch bowl.  
  
There are pros and cons to going to the school dance. On one hand, Marinette wasn’t about to pass up a chance to admire all the fashion, or seeing Adrien in a suit. On the other, that meant she would have to work extra hard not to lose her cool in front of him even more than usual.  
  
So far avoiding him and admiring him from afar is working pretty well, although Alya has had to pinch her a few times to make her stop staring and day-dreaming, but Marinette can’t help herself. In her defense, she walked up to him twice already, but then chickened out and took off back to Alya, her pillar of safety.  
  
“That’s it. I’m asking him for you,” Alya says and steps aside.  
  
Marinette says and hides behind Alya again. “Don’t you dare! I told you, I’ll ask him.”  
  
“If you say so. Aren’t you two talking more anyway? Why are you so scared? He’ll say yes.”  
  
“I told you. I just need the perfect song first.”   
  
Alya says and grins when Nino joins them with three cups of punch. “Thanks.”  
  
“Perfect song for what? I’ll say something to the DJ,” Nino says and hands Marinette her cup.  
  
She tenses and grips her cup, nearly spilling punch onto her red dress. “N-nothing! Just dancing!”  
  
Nino laughs and takes her cup back, then sets it on the table beside them. “Someone’s jumpy,” he teases as Marinette blushes. “I’ll request it for you. What do you want to hear?”  
  
“Uh- nothing specific. I- guess I’ll know it’s the right one when I feel it,” Marinette says and avoids looking at Alya, who rolls her eyes.  
  
“We’ll be here forever if that’s the case,” Alya says and reaches out to pat Marinette’s shoulder. “Well _we’re_ going to dance.”  
  
Marinette smiles at the pair and sits at the table, tracing her fingertip around the rim of the cup. Despite her nervousness about Adrien, she is glad to be at the dance. Everyone looks their best, and she is especially proud of the number of compliments Alya received on her dress. It took Marinette longer than she expected to make it, but that was her own fault for changing her mind on the design so many times. In the end, her friend ended up with a sleek purple gown and matching bag, and Alya’s excitement over it was worth it all.  
  
She looks up from her thoughts and finishes her punch in time to see Adrien heading her direction. _Act casual. Be cool_ , she thinks, but then he stops at her table and she is not prepared for him to sit in front of her.   
  
“Why are you sitting here all alone?” he asks and offers her the second cup.  
  
“I- oh- uh- dancing Alya- I mean- Alya- is dancing. With Nino.” She cringes a bit and tries to keep her hands from shaking as she accepts the cup and sets it on the table. No need to spill it on herself right in front of him.  
  
Adrien’s smile is gentle, and she thinks he might be blushing just a little. “Her dress turned out great.”  
  
“Thank you,” she says, and her own smile is broad and proud. A new song starts, and it’s one that Marinette especially likes. She looks back at Adrien, and decides that if she doesn’t ask now, she might not get the chance to later. “Would you-”  
  
“I was wondering if you’d like to da-” Adrien starts until a crash interrupts him, and they both startle.   
  
A crowd starts to form by the door. “I think something’s going on outside,” she says and gets to her feet, resting a hand on her bag.  
  
Sure enough, an akumatized victim is rampaging in the street outside. Marinette scans the room for a place to transform and ultimately has to duck into a closet.  
  
“I’m never going to get to ask Adrien to dance, am I, Tikki?” she groans as she opens her bag and Tikki flutters out.  
  
“This isn’t the time for that, Marinette!”  
  
“Right, right. Tikki, transform me!” Just as she finishes her transformation, Adrien flings open the door and gapes at her.  
  
“My- Ladybug, what are you doing here?” he stammers.  
  
She blushes. “Super heroes need to transform somewhere, don’t they?”  
  
“Oh, because I thought I just saw-”  
  
“Anyway, it’s dangerous out here, so you should keep yourself safe,” she says and tugs him into the closet, then jumps out with a quick “See you around!” and slams the door, then takes off through the crowd. The group quickly starts noticing that Ladybug is at their school dance, and sure enough, Alya pops up right at her side.  
  
“Ladybug! What are you doing at a middle school dance? Isn’t there an akuma out there?”  
  
“I’m working on it,” she says and waves into Alya’s camera. “Everyone should stay in here. I don’t think the victim is headed this way, but just in case, have everyone barricade the door when I leave.”  
  
An arm drops around her shoulders. “I was _just_ thinking the same thing, my lady.”  
  
Ladybug rolls her eyes and nudges him. “I’d be worried if you weren’t, considering that’s our _job_ , minou,” she says and gives him a slight smile before rushing out of the school.  
  
“I was also thinking about asking you to dance, but you know, akuma to catch, city to save, so I guess now isn’t the best time,” he says as he follows her.  
  
“Besides, cats don’t dance,” she calls to him over her shoulder as she tosses her yo-yo and pulls herself onto a rooftop.  
  
Chat Noir follows her with his staff. “Oh yes they do. There’s a whole movie about it.”  
  
She rolls her eyes again, and the two follow the sounds of destruction until they find the victim. The girl is wearing a deep purple gown and her skin is completely white. She rears her arm back, then throws something small and a building in front of her explodes. They land just as the victim tosses another explosive at them. Chat grabs Ladybug’s hand and twists them both out of the way, smirking as she furrows her eyebrows at him (although she is also thinking _this is sort of nice_ as she is pressed against his chest).  
  
“Guess I got that dance after all,” he says as he dips her with a broad grin, then lifts their hands and twirls her away from him.  
  
Ladybug can’t help herself; she laughs as she spins away from him and tosses her yo-yo at the victim to wrap it around the girl’s arm as she is about to throw a compact in their direction.  
  
“Explosive cosmetics?” Ladybug says. “I wonder what happened to her.”  
  
“I best she’s a blast at parties,” Chat says, grinning proudly and ignoring her groan. “Where do you think the akuma is, Bugaboo?”  
  
“Her hair piece? It’s a fancy comb. Or maybe her necklace? I don’t know. Do you think she was at that school dance?” she says. “She’s dressed up, after all.”  
  
“Maybe,” he replies and takes off to engage the girl in a fight as the victim yanks her arm free of the yo-yo.  
  
The victim yanks off her high heels; the heel itself is a sharp point, and she uses them to duel Chat Noir, aiming for his head. Ladybug lassos her yo-yo around the victim’s waist and tugs her backward. Chat takes the opportunity to tackle the girl and wrestles one of the shoes away. The victim shoves him off of her and takes a powder puff out of her pocket, shoving the puff into his face as powder fills the air. Chat Noir coughs and stumbles around, unsteady on his feet.  
  
“Chat?” Ladybug calls and uses her yo-yo to lasso his arm and pull him to her. “What was that stuff?” she asks and wipes his face clean.   
  
“Dunno- dizzy- h-hold on,” he replies. Somehow me still manages a slight smirk before flopping onto the ground. “Ooh, are we spinning again?”  
  
“We don’t have time for sitting, minou,” she says as the victim tosses a few more exploding cosmetics in their direction. Ladybug loops an arm around Chat Noir and swings them both up onto a nearby roof. “We need to get you out of here.”  
  
“No,” Chat Noir starts to protest, pushing himself off of her. “I can- I need to- to help-”  
  
“You’re in no condition to do _anything_ right now except let that powder wear off,” Ladybug says.   
  
He rubs his eyes and she helps him to sit down on the roof. “I think the- the akuma- is in her purse.”  
  
Ladybug considers this and nods. “Okay. Just- stay here, chatton. You were great,” she says and impulsively leans over to scratch behind his fake ears. He leans into her touch and rubs his watering eyes again. “And don’t rub your eyes. You’re just getting that stuff in them more.” With that, she leaps off of the roof. It takes several minutes of dodging and evading until she finally gives in and calls her Lucky Charm.  
  
“Thumb tacks?” she says and then remembers that the girl had taken her shoes off to wield the blades. “Ah, that’s easy enough.”  
  
She opens the package of tacks and runs toward the girl, dumping the container right into the victim’s path. Of course, the victim steps on the tacks and shouts with pain as a few lodge into her feet. Ladybug feels only somewhat apologetic; after all, this person was taken advantage of, but she’s also trying to blow up Paris with lipstick and compacts, so it’s only fair. While the girl flails and falls onto the ground, Ladybug rips the strap of her bag and tears the purse open. When the purple butterfly flutters out, she sighs with relief and captures it, purifies it, and tosses her Lucky Charm into the air to let it repair all the damage. The victim returns to herself, if a bit confused, and Ladybug crouches to give her a brief summary of what had happened. Apparently the girl was at the dance and had been dumped by her girlfriend after they arrived.   
  
“Do you need help getting back?” Ladybug offers.  
  
“Um. Maybe,” says the girl as she searches her bag for her phone and sighs. “Yeah. I think- one of my friends has my phone. They were taking a picture of me and- and-” she starts and sniffles.  
  
Ladybug nods in understanding and rests a hand on her shoulder; her friend had been taking a picture of the girl with her girlfriend, and must have held onto it when the couple had split up.  
  
Chat Noir drops beside the two girls, his face clean and seemingly clear-headed. “I was right?”  
  
“You were,” Ladybug says and holds out her fist to him and he bumps it as her earrings beep. “Think you can take this girl back to the dance?”  
  
“Of course,” he says and politely holds out his arm to the girl. “Hold on tight, okay? I’ll try not to go too fast; your hair looks very pretty. We don’t want to mess it up.”  
  
The girl blushes and holds onto him as he carries the girl all the way back to the school. Marinette gives them a head start, then swings herself back to the school and finds a dark, deserted spot near the school to release her transformation.  
  
“Marinette!” Alya calls when Marinette steps back into the school. “Where’ve you been? We looked all over for you.”  
  
“Oh- I…” she starts and realizes she doesn’t have an excuse. “Uh, I was…”  
  
Adrien steps up behind her and rests his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, Marinette.”  
  
She blushes and looks up at him. “Adrien- h-hi.”  
  
The group of friends look back to the dance floor as the DJ announces the last song. Alya grins at them and tugs Nino to the floor. “You better tell me what you were up to later.”  
  
Marinette nods and blushes darker as Adrien rests his hand on her elbow. “Sorry about earlier,” he says.  
  
“That’s okay,” she says and takes a deep breath. Maybe it’s not the perfect song, but it feels like a good moment. She’s still a little pumped up from the akuma, and he keeps touching her which helps her confidence.  
  
“Do you want to dance?” they both ask at the same time, and grin at each other. Marinette blushes and offers him his hand, which he takes, and they make their way toward the edge of the crowd. It’s a slow song, which is fine with her. At first she is unsure what to do until he guides her free hand onto his shoulder and places his own on her waist and holds their joined hands between them.  
  
“I’m not a great dancer, for the record,” she says.  
  
“That’s all right. We can just sway,” he says.  
  
Marinette nods and they sway. A minute in, she hesitates and rests her cheek against his chest, and he dips his head to grin. His chest is warm, and she notices the subtle musky, woodsy scent of his cologne. It’s rather comforting and calming, and she wishes she had worked up the courage to ask him to dance sooner, because Adrien is making it very easy to relax around him. When the song ends they step apart, but he keeps holding her hand. “Can I walk you home?”  
  
“I just live across the street,” she points out, but smiles broadly at the offer.  
  
He shrugs. “I hardly got to see you, and after earlier, you know… just to make sure you get home safe.”  
  
Marinette is sure that nothing would happen, but his offer is sweet and makes her blush and she dares to let herself feel the flutter of hope that maybe…. “Okay. Yeah.”  
  
The pair wave good-bye to Alya and Nino, then Adrien offers her his arm. She loops her hand around his elbow and they step out of the school.  
  
“Your dress is really pretty, too,” he says. “I don’t think I said that earlier. You look incredible.”  
  
Marinette blushes and beams from the praise. “Thank you. Your good, I mean- your suit- and good- I mean- you look good. In your suit. And not in your suit- I mean.” She groans and blushes.  
  
He laughs and leads her down the steps. “Thanks.”   
  
When they get to the bottom she looks up at the music coming from the parked car of a parent waiting for someone. “Oh, I love this song. I was hoping we’d get to hear it.”  
  
Adrien smiles and lets his hand slip down to hers. “Yeah? Me, too,” he says and lifts their hands to twirl her. She laughs and lets him, managing to spin without tripping.   
  
He pulls her back to him and laughs with her, blushing nearly as much as she is. “See? You can dance,” he says and twirls her again, then leads her into a more up-beat dance down the sidewalk until the song ends and they reach the corner. “Good thing I’m walking you home. You would’ve missed your song,” he says with a grin.  
  
“Yeah,” she says, beaming, and curls her hand around his elbow again when he offers it. They cross the street and stop in front of her door. “Thank you for, um- dancing me home.”  
  
He laughs and kisses her cheek. “It was fun. Have a good night, Marinette.”  
  
She grins and touches her cheek. “Good night, Adrien.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I appreciate any and all feedback and comments. If you liked this, I have some other ML fics I hope you'll enjoy!


End file.
